5 Great Franchises That Lived and Died on the NES

The Nintendo Entertainment System came along in 1985 and absolutely saved the home video game industry. The system featured more than 1,300 officially licensed games, with over 700 released in North America. It was also the launchpad for many of Nintendo’s biggest franchises, and while several went on to become huge on later systems, some lived and died on the NES. We looked through the system’s vast library and identified five of the best franchises that had a lot going for them on the NES but didn’t survive outside the platform, save for a few small exceptions. They’re arranged in no particular order.

1) Wizards & Warriors

Rare developed Wizards & Warriors for the NES in 1987, launching one of my favorite franchises on the system. The games focus on Kuros, described as “Knight Warrior of the Books of Excalibur” in the Kingdom of Elrond. It’s an action platformer series that focuses primarily on a jumping mechanic, collecting keys and treasure, finding magical items, and weapons. The first game earned three sequels, one of which did find its way onto the Game Boy, so there’s a small asterisk on this franchise. Still, despite that one outlier, the franchise never really survived the NES’ discontinuation, and it’s never been revived.

2) Power Blade

Power Blade is an action platformer released in 1991 for the NES that centers on NOVA, the Chief Security Officer of a supercomputer on New Earth in the year 2191. The game is similar to the Mega Man series in its gameplay and structure, and NOVA is armed with a boomerang, as shown on the box art. NOVA bears a strong resemblance to Arnold Schwarzenegger, likely for marketing purposes. Power Blade’s success spawned a sequel, Power Blade 2, which came out in 1992, but that was the end of the franchise, as no other games have come out since.

3) Casino Kid

Casino Kid is a casino game released in 1989 that’s set in the far-off future of 1991. The game is based on Yuki Ishigaki’s popular manga series $1,000,000 Kid, so it’s not a straight-up casino game, as it features a story, characters, and more. Essentially, it’s about becoming the top player in Las Vegas, which leads to its sequel, Casino Kid II, released in 1993. That game carried on the story from its predecessor, but no additional sequels followed, ending the franchise on the NES with only two titles.

4) Rad Racer

Many popular racing games built franchises that continued long after their debut, but Rad Racer did not. The game launched in 1987 with players taking control of a Ferrari 328 on a Formula One racecourse. It could be played with special glasses, as Rad Racer incorporated stereoscopic 3D, which was pretty cool back in the day. Rad Racer was a huge hit, selling nearly 2 million copies, and it was one of the three games selected for the 1990 Nintendo World Championship. Rad Racer II soon followed, adding eight new tracks and additional music, with gameplay similar to the first title, but that was it … the franchise ended there.

5) StarTropics

StarTropics is an action-adventure game released for the NES in 1990. The game centers on a teenager named Mike who goes on a quest to save his uncle, leading him into dungeons and across various settlements. It’s a fun and fascinating Zelda-like adventure game that did well with critics and players, scoring a sequel, Zoda’s Revenge: StarTropics II, released in 1994. That was around the tail end of the NES’ lifecycle, and it would be the last game in the StarTropics series. It’s unclear why Nintendo abandoned the franchise, as it had plenty of promise and has been re-released on various systems over the years.

Which dead NES franchise would you like to see return? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

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